Crawl back to me
by Bedshapely
Summary: Nora and Dogmeat share a moment together near the beginning of the game. Own art :)


Crawl back to me

Nora flinched and violently spun her eyes away from the sun, pressing the lesser burned of her hands high into the sky.

Her palms were covered in a meagre overlay of scrap material strips pilfered off car seats and god knows what else they found on the road, stuck together with melted plastic and saliva. No sooner had the light rays begun to pierce her eyes that they started to sear through to her hands as well. She scrubbed impatiently at the pre-existent radiation burns at her wrists to no avail.

The dog and her had been on the road for over 4 weeks and had had their supplies reduced to nothing save what was currently visible on their bodies. Nora knew that they should rest, but she was desperate to get away from this place- bone dry and ridden with synths. A brief outline of the canine suddenly flitted past her, ears a 'twitching, and Nora felt a wave of sympathy.

"Come here boy!"

The sentiment was met with a gruff but eager _Huff_ , before he plopped himself in front of her.

"Why don't you fetch me…something way by those banks over there?"

Dogmeat stuck his tongue out and twirled around twice before speeding off as instructed. Nora placed her hands on her hips and watched his tail whirl like a small helicopter behind him.

 _If he wants to run around like a monkey and use up all of his energy, best do it under the trees in some shade._

She never did understand why the dog insisted on sprinting every which way like a cocaine-ridden lunatic fresh out of the asylum, even when he could see that the entire area was a barren wasteland. She shook her head.

Still, the sight had made her somewhat more motivated. Her husband used to mention frequently that this insufferable happy-go-lucky streak was what attracted him to her in the first place.

She decided to try her dam-nest to search once more for something of aid to them both. With a light skip in her aching and bruised step, she made her way to the nearest structure in sight- a half toppled series of block flats.

...

Her husband…she wondered if she would ever hear his rickety laughter again. The whistling of the evening air and hollow echoes of rusted machines coming apart were the only sounds that kept her company now.

Along with the occasional dog whine.

The building had kept its bottom two floors intact, but the rubble atop the second floor made it impossible to determine exactly how many floors initially stood. She figured that she would scope the first floor only, in and out quick as possible.

The heavy look of it made her uneasy, but Nora had her mind already set. Determinedly pushing through a single hinged door to the side of the flat, Nora's feet buckled and her left ankle twisted as the ground gave way below her and she began to fall, out through the door and into an underground trench.

Ash flooded her eyes and began to absorb the excess moisture there. Her chest heaved. She had expected the floor above to entrap her, not below. She could just make out the precarious pile of rubble above waiting to engulf her.

A mixture of tears and dirt began to trickle into her ears.

 _I should have followed you and Shaun, Nate_. _This world is so broken-inside and out- that even the things left behind worth fighting for are torn apart in the process._

She closed her burning eyes and willed it all to disappear.

A low and distant whine brought her back to her senses. Once again the outline of a large German Shepard crossed her vision-this time blocking out portion of the sun. He wore an expression of concern comically etched across the brows as he peered down at her, whining still. Nora rubbed the ashy sand out of her eyes and grinned in spite of it all.

"C'mere, boy"

She chuckled weakly as she watched him gracelessly skid and stumble through the rubble as he crawled towards her, trying and failing to avoid catching his paws on loose structural wire.

When he finally reached her, he deposited a military ration tin of water at her feet and then proceeded to pace around her head and worriedly sniff at her hair in his usual jumpy manner. Then he uncharacteristically laid down at her side, deathly still, and allowed her to card her fingers through his fur that seemed impossibly soft and warm against the tainted background.

 _Clever thing._

They stayed like this for a while. Finally Nora rose and rested her head against his fluffy flank.

"Let's get out of here."

 _We've got our families to find._

She picked him up- along with the small tin- and started to carefully tread her way back to the surface, twisted ankle and all.

 _Good to know that some things don't change._


End file.
